how your travel advisor can save you money

bill for two buffet breakfasts, FREE if you use a STARS travel advisor

It's a common misconception that hotel guests can find the best deals booking on the internet, either going to an online travel agency like Expedia or hotels.com or booking directly on the hotel's website. If you want to reserve a room at a luxury hotel or resort, that inclination is a fallacy.

This was our breakfast bill from this morning. My wife and I each ordered the breakfast buffet this morning at Ritz-Carlton Bacara Resort. At the end of the meal, our waiter brought us the pictured check to sign. If $77.58 sounds like a lot to pay for breakfast ... here's how you can enjoy that breakfast for free: make your booking through a travel advisor affiliated with a STARS agency. One of the perks you'll receive at Bacara is a free buffet breakfast for two each morning of your stay. And you'll get a late 4 p.m. check-out if available and a customized welcome amenity or service — all at the same rate you see on the web.

Even better amenities are coming, as I understand Bacara will soon be accepted into Virtuoso. Add to all of the above a $100 resort credit — and a room upgrade if available when you check in. That's even more value you can get just by using a Virtuoso travel advisor. 

So don't buy into the flawed logic that you're better off booking it on your own. You can find a Virtuoso advisor on Virtuoso.com.

copyright  (c)  2018 by Ourisman Travel LLC.  All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit our website.

the art of the (hotel) deal

One&Only Reethi Rah, cover resort for The Best of the Best 2017

Are you looking for the best deal?

You have now discovered the best-kept secret for getting better values at nearly 1,200 of the world's most luxurious hotels and resorts. Generally speaking, you'll pay the same best available flexible rate you can find online, but by booking through a Virtuoso travel advisor, you'll also receive the following valuable amenities:

Breakfast for two daily. Does the thought of paying $35 (or more) plus tax, plus gratuity, for a croissant, glass of juice, and cup of coffee send you out the front door of the hotel looking for a Starbucks? Virtuoso guests can enjoy a leisurely breakfast in the hotel's restaurant or through in-room dining. Many Virtuoso resorts offer a complimentary Full American breakfast, through room service if you wish, including buffets. I know the best free breakfast in whatever city you'd like to visit...

Room upgrades. Most hotels will upgrade you if available at the time of check-in, but perhaps 10% will do even better: upgrade you when you book. I know a hotel family that gives my clients guaranteed upgrades at the time of booking. Upgrades mean ... more space, higher floors, or better views!

Extra amenities (like a $100 credit towards food and beverage or the hotel spa) give you added values at every hotel I book. My favorite Virtuoso extra amenity? A VIP welcome at the jetway of your plane by an hostess who will fast-track you through the immigration queue, help you collect your luggage, and escort you to your complimentary limousine to the hotel. And your return trip is complimentary too! And you're guaranteed an upgrade at this particular hotel.

It doesn't cost a dollar, euro, or pound more, and you don't need an expensive credit card with a $450 annual fee to qualify.

The art of the (hotel) deal, indeed. Contact Ourisman Travel ... or any Virtuoso travel advisor ... to enjoy the best value at a luxury hotel.

copyright (c) 2017 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell Travel. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

got the polar vortex blues?

a clever ad from Cap Juluca, Virtuoso luxury beach resort in Anguilla

The weather outside is dreadful in so many parts of the country, with the polar vortex bringing arctic temperatures to the midwest and east coast of the United States and Canada. There is an alternative to suffering the cold and damp of winter ... a warm, sunny tropical beach somewhere south!

Cap Juluca created the clever ad at the top of this article. "Exchange white snow for white sand" was the subject of their email blast, and I share the sentiment. Cap Juluca is a tropical resort in the British West Indies on the island of Anguilla, named #1 Best Beach Resort Worldwide by Andrew Harper's Hideaway Report 2013. One of dozens of Virtuoso luxury resorts in the Caribbean, guests booking through a Virtuoso travel consultant receive complimentary extras — daily breakfast for two, a $100 resort credit, and an upgrade if available when you check-in.

So whether your travel dreams take you to the Caribbean, Mexico, or Hawaii, ask your Virtuoso travel advisor for some winter vacation ideas... and beat the polar vortex blues! We can provide you with great money-saving amenities at virtually any luxury resort you'd like to visit.

copyright (c) 2015 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell Travel. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

Four Seasons Vail | a resort for all seasons

Four Seasons Vail is a recently opened resort with activities for all seasons. Located in Vail Village, just steps away from the lifts, Four Seasons is the premier luxury resort for a ski vacation at one of America's top ski destinations.

Winter or summer, Vail offers countless choices for an active vacation. Downhill and cross-country skiing, snowboarding, and sleigh rides top the list of winter activities, and the Four Seasons Ski Concierge will make your trip all the more enjoyable. Leave your equipment in a heated locker at the base of the Vista Bahns chairlift ... and come back the next morning to enjoy warm, dry boots!

Summer visitors enjoy golf, hiking, white water rafting, fly fishing, mountain biking, horseback riding, and hot air ballooning.

Be sure to book through a FS Preferred Partner. Why? Preferred Partner guests at Four Seasons Vail always receive these added-value amenities:

• Daily full American breakfast for two through In-Room dining or the hotel restaurant
  
• Spa credit of $100 (in addition to the two free massages)
  
• Upgrade of one category based on availability at check-in
  
• Complimentary high-speed Internet access for suite bookings

Four Seasons Vail (search here on Google)

copyright (c) 2011 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.
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